20 STORIES FOR 20 YEARS
Kevin Ferguson
Kevin Ferguson is the house photographer for Bethel Woods and a high school science teacher.
“I lived out in Colorado prior to moving here and was a house photographer for a country bar, and for a medium-sized arena. And I used to shoot sometimes as many as seven shows in a week. In May 2005 we were here driving around learning about the area and looking at houses for a couple of days. We came down Hurd road and saw all the signs that there was construction going on and there was going to be blasting.
In looking into it, I became more and more interested because there weren't many places I could shoot concerts. So to go from shooting 7 concerts a week and shooting as a house photographer at a country bar where everybody had performed at while I was there, from Garth Brooks to, Kenny Chesney, Keith Urban, Toby Keith, to being here in the middle of nowhere and not having much to shoot, it was kind of a tough adjustment that fall.
So when I heard that the venue was going to be opening in the spring, I reached out and was able to get an interview and show some of my portfolio, and that led to me getting brought on board.
I'm one of the luckiest people on the planet. To go from being an independent photographer and trying to get approvals to shoot concerts, it was very labor intensive, and I would spend hours on the phone reaching out to record labels, publicists, artists. And it was very difficult, and there were an awful lot of nos that came before going to yes. And now at Bethel Woods, since I'm their guy, all that's taken care of for me.
It's a very laid back atmosphere when it comes to shooting concerts. I've been in places like Madison Square Garden, where there were 40 other photographers, and here at Bethel Woods, there may be 15 photographers on a very, very crowded show, and oftentimes it's much less than that.
The Catbird Festival stands out as being a pretty amazing experience just because there were so many different genres of music present, so many artists that I'd never heard of that have come into their own. We got lucky, I think, with Tyler Childers and the Lumineers being on the bill. They were absolutely fantastic bands to see and to listen to, but on top of that, they've simply gone on to much bigger things, and I think we were very fortunate to have them. Also 49 Winchester was a new band that I hadn't heard of, who played one of the B stages up where the Horizon stage is now. The crowd was just absolutely incredible, the lawn was absolutely packed. And the energy that they had for a new band, to see them pull that kind of audience and that kind of interaction was just amazing.
In 2022, Willie Nelson brought his Outlaw Festival, and Zach Bryan opened. That same sort of energy that I first saw at the 49 Winchester show, now it was 10 or 20 times bigger on the lawn. There was a large contingent there to see Zach Bryan and it was right as he was really taking that trajectory upwards.
When I was at Mysteryland, I took some portraits of some of the characters that were there as visitors to see the show. With that being an EDM festival, people were dressed up and it was awesome to see. I took portraits of individuals from that were really pretty special to me.
One thing that stands out as a gut punch kind of moment, is the last time that Phish played here. Probably one of the top five performer photos that I've taken in my life, was the photo I took of Trey during the first three songs on the first night of Phish. I just knew from the moment that I took it: how am I going to top this on night 2 and night 3? There was no way. I've been shooting concerts for 25 years, and to have an image that's that unique, that different, and just that powerful, nothing has come close to that image.
Bethel Woods does so much that is more under the radar than their concerts. The arts and education piece is something that is much less widely known, and I think it's super impactful
to see as an educator, all of what they do and how they interact with students and with adults as well. So being able to take a group of students that haven't really played instruments before and be able to teach them a little bit about songwriting and instrument playing and working as a team to form a band and be able to perform in a couple of weeks time is just something that's absolutely amazing. And I, I think that, you know, the educator part of me is very jealous of what Bethel Woods gets to do with that because you're working with kids who are choosing to be there, and that's not necessarily the case in public education. It really pulls my heartstrings as an educator.
Growing up, one of the reasons why I ended up getting into concert photography specifically is, I never would have been in a position to be able to afford concert tickets in my 20s.
Driving down I-25 in Denver, we were passing the Grizzly Rose, which was the big country bar out there that had national touring entertainers. And by going in and putting myself out there to the owner and being able to come and shoot, it was really a way for me to be front row and center, even if it was just for two or three songs. I was getting an experience that you couldn't buy, and I certainly wouldn't have been able to afford, even if it were for sale. So being able to be up front for bands like U2 and Bon Jovi and ACDC, those were just some really incredible experiences. So when I moved here and learned that the Woodstock site was right here and that they were building this outdoor amphitheater, I couldn't actually believe it. It was just a dream come true for me. And then to be able to slide into the role as the house photographer, it was pretty incredible. That first season, being able to see the New York Philharmonic with the fireworks afterwards was great.
When Crosby, Stills, Nash, and Young were here, we were shooting that show from the wings of the stage. When song three started, a huge peace sign unfurled behind the band. I knew I had to get to the soundboard to get the peace sign in the shot. I just took off towards the soundboard. Now every visitor to the Museum at Bethel Woods gets to see that moment as it is on the last wall in the museum.
The whole thing is really like a wild dream to me, to be able to use my camera and document things. If it weren't for photography, we wouldn't know as much about Woodstock as we do now, because the performances themselves, some were great, some were not so great, but the images live on, and, you know, hopefully that's a little bit of what I'm able to do for Bethel Woods in the future.
A few years ago, Nick and Bobbi Ercoline wanted to meet Carlos Santana, and so I was with them when they walked up to Carlos, and they had the original Woodstock album, and they showed it to him and said, you know, that's us on the cover, and he's like, ‘Yeah, you want me to sign that?’ And they're like, ‘No, no, that's us.’ Carlos’ mind was just blown. He's like, ‘What?’ So to be able to take a photo of the three of them and just being a fly on the wall was just pretty cool.
I really love that at Bethel Woods, I'm allowed to express my creativity as an artist. So instead of just documenting individual performers, once I know that I've got shots that are going to be usable, I now feel the freedom to do some fun stuff. Sometimes it works and sometimes it doesn't. I've been able to play around with things like multiple exposures and that wouldn't happen if you were shooting a show for a newspaper, for example.
There's a photo of James Taylor that I like that I took with an architectural lens that's meant to straighten the lines on buildings because if you shoot a building, the buildings will curve.
And I use that sometimes for portraits and for concert photography because with James Taylor, he's the person on stage that's the most important. So with that particular photo, you'll see that there's a line of focus that goes straight up and down in the picture. And as you go left and right, it becomes more and more blurry. I use it sparingly, but I've taken a photo using it with Roger Daltrey when he was there with an orchestra, and with Don Henley when he performed solo.
I feel that Bethel Woods supports me in my art, much like they support the students and adults that participate in their Arts in Education programs. They provide a space for creativity and expression, and let the artistry have a chance to shine... similar to what happened in 1969.”